Some things you need to know about the attack on Gaza

“So what is going on here? At the most basic level, Israel’s actions in Gaza are inextricably bound up with its efforts to create a Greater Israel that stretches from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea. Despite the endless palaver about a two-state solution, the Palestinians are not going to get their own state, not least because the Netanyahu government is firmly opposed to it. The prime minister and his political allies are deeply committed to making the Occupied Territories a permanent part of Israel. To pull this off, the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza will be forced to live in impoverished enclaves similar to the Bantustans in white-ruled South Africa. Israeli Jews understand this quite well: a recent survey found that 58 per cent of them believe Israel already practices apartheid against the Palestinians.”

Second, a major turning point in Israel’s escalation was their assassination of a Hamas military commander who was the contact for Israeli and Egyptian officials attempting to negotiate a real and lasting peace. Really.

The greater context of course is the One Gigantic Fact that somehow never seems to make it onto the TV: Gaza is occupied territory. This is no even fight. Gaza is a juvenile prison writ-large, Hamas just their Lord of the Flies-elected guards. The Israeli policy is to keep them hungry and desperate. They brag about it.

The U.S.A. – AKA Barack Hussein Obama and his imperial legions – are 100% responsible for the attack and bloodbath. (Responsibility being a metaphysical concept, percentages don’t always have to add up perfectly.)